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I've also kinda wondered about this, too, but I hadn't asked. Does it matter what school as long as it's ABET accredited? I live in WV and I don't want to go out of state to a college, and even some of the better schools in this state for engineering (i.e. WVU) aren't on any top list that I've seen.

An ABET-accredited degree program should be a solid degree program, although any given school may not be optimal due to academic fit (e.g. emphasis within the subject) and non-academic fit.

For job recruiting, non-local recruiters do tend to favor the better known schools for the subject, so if your school is lesser known, then you may have to be more aggressive at looking for companies to apply to for jobs and internships. There are some industry sectors and regions that are generally regarded as being more school-prestige-conscious than others (e.g. investment banking, consulting, law with respect to law school in terms of industries; the northeast is probably more school-prestige-conscious than others).

and I always thought "Maybe I could stick around for this transfer program and then move to a better school for the final couple of years" but in WV, I can pay in-state tuition at almost any college on grants alone; I can't say the same for other colleges in other states.

Company I was a manager for was a big aerospace campany (you'd know it if I told you). We would get a list of the top 10 to 15 engineering schools and told to pay more attention to resumes from those schools. Also the company did on-campus interviews at those schools.

You could still get hired from a non-top school, but it was definitely a lot harder. We would also give higher starting salaries to those from the top schools.

If you want to work in a small company or some kind of startup company, it may not matter as much. Once you've been out of school a number of years, it is your record of professional achievement that will matter more than where you went to school.

I started at a much lower ranked ABET school and transferred to a high ranked school. Kept a 4.0 at the first school, GPA is staying at around a 3.8 at this school, so it was easier, but .2 is not going to be a game changer. Job-wise I feel that I am a lot better off at the higher ranked school but I was able to secure internships at the previous school and feel that I could have definitely received a job if I finished there as well.

Yeah, that's the main reason. Marshall University is very close to where I live,

WV public universities appear to be about $13,000 per year commuter, or $18,000 per year if you have to pay room and board as well, according to the COA pages of Marshall and WVU.

Cost is certainly a legitimate consideration, although you may not want to rule out other schools too quickly before checking their net price calculators for need-based aid and their scholarship pages for large enough merit scholarships that may make them competitive price-wise.

If you want to work in a small company or some kind of startup company, it may not matter as much.

However, the small companies may have smaller list of campuses that they recruit at (compared to big companies that recruit at dozens or even hundreds of campuses), and do not have the visibility for you to even know that they exist (so that you can apply to them even if they do not come to your campus to recruit).

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